Beyonce: Split Personality

December 4, 2008 8:37AM

It’s safe to say, Sasha Fierce is getting almost as much attention as her as her superstar alter-ego, Beyonce Knowles.

"Her cousin Angie gave her that name," mother Tina Knowles reveals in the December issue of Elle Magazine. "We’d tease Beyonce about having a split personality. Beyonce would come off stage between sets and start screaming, ‘What’s wrong with you? Where’s my shoe?’ ‘Uh-oh,’ we’d say, ‘Sasha is here.’"

Now pushing both a new album, I Am Sasha Fierce, and the film Cadillac Records, the 27-year-old is busier than ever. But the singer credits the years she spent in Destiny’s Child as keeping her grounded in the midst of her rising fame.

"We were really sheltered," she says of those days with fellow Destiny’s Child members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. "We would get on the tour bus and read the bible."

In April, Beyonce married longtime sweetheart and rap mogul Jay Z in a secret NYC ceremony. This year the couple topped Forbes list of richest couples with an estimated worth of $162 million. But the singer says it bothers her when comparisons are made between her family (who all work for team Beyonce in one way or another) and another rich and famous African-American family.

"I grew up upper-class. Private school. My dad had a Jaguar," she recalls. "We’re African-American and we work together as a family, so people assume we’re like the Jacksons. But I didn’t have parents using me to get out of a bad situation."